If the Ducks proved nothing else Friday night, they showed it was possible to play a spotty game, disappoint their coach, rely heavily on their 30-year-old first-year goaltender and still manage to take a 4-0 victory over a feisty but overmatched opponent.

The Ducks’ win over the Calgary Flames at the Honda Center was many things at many times. Mostly, it was a game to make coach Bruce Boudreau appear as if he’d rather be in the dentist’s chair getting a root canal than watching his team go through the motions.

So how did they do it? How did they win their 10 th consecutive home game and extend their mastery over the Flames to 16 consecutive games in Anaheim, dating to Jan. 19, 2004?

Well, goalie Viktor Fasth had a hand in helping the Ducks improve to 17-3-3, the NHL’s second-best record. The Ducks’ “Big Line” of Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry played a significant role, too. So did some of the Ducks’ supporting cast, including forward Daniel Winnik.

Fasth made 29 saves in his second shutout this season to improve to 5-0-0 with a 0.98 goals-against average at home. Ryan scored a goal, Getzlaf had a goal and an assist for his 500 th and 501 st NHL points on the day he signed an eight-year, $66-million extension and Perry added an assist.

Winnik’s first goal since Jan. 26 should have put the Ducks on course for a resounding victory. In the end, they did win in commanding fashion, but it took longer than Boudreau would have liked to get there. The Ducks meandered off course for too long to please their coach.

“That team was ready to play,” Boudreau said of the Flames. “We talked about their first periods being their best periods. We knew we were going to have our hands full. As soon as we scored our first goal, we let up, thinking we were going to take it to ’em.

“They did it to us, and Viktor was there to save us.”

Fasth recorded the Ducks’ second consecutive shutout this week, turning away the Flames again and again. Jonas Hiller blanked the Phoenix Coyotes 2-0 on Wednesday, stopping all 18 shots for his first shutout of the season and the 16 th of his career.

It wasn’t immediately clear who would start in goal Sunday, when the Ducks play host to the St. Louis Blues. The Ducks reach the midway point of the lockout-shortened 48-game season Sunday, having actually gained ground on the league-leading Chicago Blackhawks (21-1-3) on Friday.

Some in the crowd of 15,839 stood and cheered when news of the Blackhawks’ 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, their first in regulation this season, was shown on the Honda Center’s overhead scoreboard with the Ducks well on their way to victory.

“We didn’t start the game we wanted to,” Getzlaf said. “Our goalie played unbelievable in the first period to even give us a chance. For us to come out 1-0 after that period, we were pretty thankful for that. The guys did a pretty good job of tightening things up after that and we got the win.”

Elliott Teaford covers the Anaheim Ducks for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group. He covered the Ducks for 12 years, including the Stanley Cup season, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Breeze before returning to the beat in 2018 for SCNG. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.